


Your Cities are a Wilderland (Look Upon Your Children)

by TinyButFierce



Series: Blow in Like a Hurricane (Everyone Will Know my Name) [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adorable Grogu | Baby Yoda, BAMF Leia Organa, Badass Cara Dune, Boba Fett & Fennec Shand Friendship, Din Djarin & Cara Dune are Best Friends, Gen, Good Parent Din Djarin, Jedi Luke Skywalker, Mando'a Language (Star Wars), New Republic Politics (Star Wars), POV Leia Organa, Planet Mandalore (Star Wars), Planet Tatooine (Star Wars), Senator Leia Organa, mand'alor din djarin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29096457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyButFierce/pseuds/TinyButFierce
Summary: Leia has had enough of Mandalorians. There's almost no information on them in the New Republic records, her husband keeps complaining about Boba Fett, someone named Bo-Katan hung up on her, and she can't find a single kriffing way to get ahold of the Mand'alor for treaty negotiations.If only the Mandalorian hanging around Luke's school would be more helpful.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Leia Organa/Han Solo
Series: Blow in Like a Hurricane (Everyone Will Know my Name) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147565
Comments: 159
Kudos: 696
Collections: Fics_to_make_me_smile





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had way too much fun with this. Mando'a translations at the end.
> 
> Title is from Wilderland by Anaïs Mitchell

Leia needed a stiff drink. She was surrounded by incompetents. The task wasn’t even that hard! All she wanted her staff to do was to get a message to this new “king” on Mandalore and ask for his presence on Coruscant. It would be a mutually beneficial relationship for the New Republic and the dead glassed planet. Well, apparently not so dead after all. 

Whispers had reached her ear that Mandalore had been retaken by a  _ surprising  _ amount of Mandalorians following someone with the title Mand’alor the Reluctant. 

As if! She was a politician, she knew politics. Anyone who gains the title of King could be in no way reluctant. That meant that this man had deceived his own population of terrifying warriors. That meant he was dangerous. 

Dangerous meant that she needed to establish an alliance before the relationship became something else.

She rubbed her forehead and groaned silently. This was worse than convincing Han to not keep smuggling, an action that he was probably off doing right now under the excuse of “taking the falcon out for a spin.” Incompetency everywhere. 

Sighing, she looked up at the nervous Twi’lek in front of her. “Tell me what happened.”

Mezdiri shifted in her seat and swallowed. “I sent a message to the comlink associated with the palace in Sundari. I was on hold for about two hours before the line was picked up and a Mandalorian with a helmet that looked to be decorated like an owl asked me what I wanted. I gave her the usual stuff, that I was a staffer with Senator Leia Organa of the New Republic and that you wanted to meet with their King on Coruscant to speak about an alliance.”

“And then what happened?” Leia knew that something had to have gone horribly wrong if Mezdiri of all people had gotten a refusal. 

“Well…” The Twi’lek floundered for a moment. “The woman I spoke to started laughing, and then she told me that if the New Republic wanted their help so badly, we would have to go to them. I told her that it was an honor to be summoned by you, Senator Organa, and she said that if it was truly an honor that it wouldn’t be a ‘miserable staffer with no sense’ calling. She hung up right after.” Mezdiri looked up at Leia with an earnest expression on her face. “I’m sorry, Senator.”

Leia reached forward and patted Mezdiri’s hand. “It’s not your fault. These people are nomadic warriors with no sense of decorum. I’ll take care of this. Take the rest of the day off.”

With that, the Twi’lek gave her thanks and another apology before leaving Leia’s office with a slight more spring in her step. Leia leaned back in her chair and frowned. She had done research on Mandalorians before having Mezdiri contact them, and she couldn’t say that she was surprised this happened. Kriff, she couldn’t even be positive that the things she had learned in her research were even accurate. All she was able to gather from the New Republic’s records was a mixed up explanation about the history of Mandalore (which she didn’t trust to be accurate at all!), a database on their major weapons and ships, and basic info about their culture. 

Something about the Resol’nare? A six step pledge which all Mandalorians were supposed to abide by. She snorted, it was doubtful that this “Mand’alor the Reluctant” actually abided by that now that he was in a position of power. 

The thing that really stood out to her was this darksaber that the records mentioned. Apparently whoever wielded it became their automatic ruler. She shook her head, what a ridiculous way to transition power. All it meant was that she would be working with a relative tyrant, a very battle hardened tyrant. 

“Force help me.” She said, and pulled up the comlink for Sundari that Mezdiri had left her after the staffer’s unfortunate call. 

Pressing the call button, she braced herself to wait for quite a long time, but the line was picked up almost immediately.

The holo was filled with the view of someone wearing a helmet decorated like an owl, and she knew that she was speaking to the same person Mezdiri had found little luck with. Great. Just great. 

“What do you want now?” The Mandalorian said, and Leia was taken aback by the vitriol in her tone.

No matter, she was a Senator. She drew her shoulders back and spoke. “I am Senator Leia Organa of the New Republic, I must apologize for my staffer’s actions earlier this day. I was informed that you would rather speak to me directly. Might I ask to whom I am speaking?”

The helmet tilted for a moment before hands came up and removed it, revealing a red haired woman who looked like she had seen many fights. Her eyes were stealy, and Leia knew that this was a person she could respect.

“Lady Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze.”

Ah! Leia thought. Nobility. She made a mental note. Lady Bo-Katan. Clan Kryze. Personal relationship to the Mand’alor? Possible. 

“Lady Bo-Katan,” Leia said. “It is an honor to speak with you. I expect you wish to go straight to business instead of exchanging pleasantries?”

A small smirk twitched upwards on the Mandalorian’s face. “You expect correctly.”

“Very well. I wish to parlay with your leader. There is a great alliance which could be formed between Mandalore and the New Republic, I wish to discuss terms with the Mand’alor. I understand that coming to Coruscant is unappealing to you. I assure you it was not a power move on our part. We simply suggested that as we assumed that you would not wish to disclose the information about your planet required to arrange a diplomatic mission.” What bantha crap. Sometimes she wondered about the things that came out of her mouth. Of course it was a power move! 

Seeing that Lady Bo-Katan was not going to respond yet, she continued. “If it would be prefered, a visit to Mandalore can be arranged. If none of the available options are satisfactory, I would be amenable for a discussion over a secure comlink as well.” She paused to elicit a response out of the Mandalorian.

“Your words make me think that the New Republic wishes very much to secure an alliance, Senator Organa.” Lady Bo-Katan said with a smug expression.

“It is my understanding that your planet needs help, Lady Bo-Katan. It is also my understanding that your people are quite capable warriors. Empire remnants are still out there, and you desperately need supplies. I am simply attempting to come to a mutually beneficial relationship. Now, in what capacity will I be allowed to speak to the Mand’alor?”

“You doubt the strength of our people?” The Mandalorian snapped.

“No. I doubt your supply chain. Let the New Republic help, and let me speak to the Mand’alor.” 

The narrowed eyes of the Mandalorian were replaced with a smirking smile, it seemed to Leia that a pseudo smirk was the only type of smile she could do. “I suspect you are a warrior yourself, Senator Organa. I shall relay your words to the Mand’alor when he is available.”

“And when will that be?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Leia’s eyebrows shot up, what kind of civilization is this?! “You don’t know when your ruler will be available? How is that possible?”

Lady Bo-Katan glared at her. “He is away, dealing with matters of the Resol’nare. He is not to be disturbed unless there is an emergency.”

Matters of the Resol’nare, huh? Probably off polishing his armor or whatever. “My apologies if this comes off as rude, but with the Mand’alor unavailable, who is running the planet?” 

“We are not as reliant upon monarchs as other civilizations, Senator, but to answer your question, myself, the  _ alor _ , and the leader of Clan Vizsla are available should any problems come up.”

Alright, well she knew that  _ alor  _ probably meant an armorer. At least something came out of her research. That meant either this Bo-Katan or this Leader of Clan Vizsla were probably in some form of relationship with the Mand’alor, given the track records of other monarchies. Better step carefully. 

“I wish to settle this arrangement sooner rather than later, Lady Bo-Katan. Would you, or the other members of this governing council be able to ratify a treaty?”

The Mandalorian snorted. “Sure, but none of us are going to do it without the Mand’alor. I will notify you when he is available.  _ Ret’urcye mhi. _ ”

She hung up. 

Leia sat there for a solid moment before realizing that fact. Had she just been hung up on? Who did this woman think she was? She was going to lose it.

Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes and tried to center herself, and by that she meant annoy Luke. 

She jabbed him with the force and smiled as his annoyed emotions filtered over to her. Her brother had been quite busy establishing his school for tiny Jedi, and she had barely found the time to be able to call him. Last she spoke to him, he was complaining about one of the parents of his padawans. Luke had changed up the rules to allow for visits from family (it would be hypocritical if he didn’t), but the various parents had  _ somehow  _ teamed up and decided that this meant they could live on Yavin 4 as well. When Luke tried to argue with them, the ringleader of the parents, someone named Din, had thoroughly disproved his points.

Luke had rambled something about Din being intimidating and his son being an adorable menace when Leia laughed at him for succumbing so easily. Judging by the frustrated emotions Leia was feeling from Luke, that parent was probably in his vicinity. 

She drummed her fingers on the desk. Han was off somewhere, the senate was in a break, and this Mand’alor stuff was going nowhere soon. 

That’s it, she was going to go visit her brother, and maybe shake the hand of this Din who managed to irritate him so much. That being decided, she called one of her staffers to ready her ship and stood up from her chair with a grin on her face. She had a good feeling about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I should have the next few chapters out sometime this week. 
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing! :D
> 
> Mando'a Translation:  
> Mand'alor - sole leader  
> Alor - leader (I used this to mean armorer)  
> Ret’urcye mhi - goodbye


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter 2! Your comments on chapter 1 were absolutely delightful and I loved reading them.
> 
> Also, for clarification, I did not come up with the Mand'alor the Reluctant line. I've seen it thrown around a lot and thought it was absolutely delightful. I take no credit for it.
> 
> As always, Mando'a translations are at the end.

Leia stared at the ship outside her window with an expression she was glad no one was around to see on her face. Here she was, landing in the clearing Luke had directed her to (and where all of the parent’s ships were), and what did her eyes see but a Kom’rk class fighter in front of her. 

This Mandalorian bantha crap was never going to leave her alone was it? She sighed. Obviously Luke was fine with this ship being here, otherwise she would have known about it. All she could do was hope that it didn’t belong to a Mandalorian. Yeah, that’s it. One of the parents probably bought it at a shipyard or something. Whatever. 

She shook her head and looked around at what she could see from the vantage point of her ship. There were seven other crafts, including Luke’s X-Wing and her own ship, and she could see the path leading from the clearing to the small village that Luke said had been put together. Unstrapping herself from the pilot’s seat, she grabbed her supplies and opened the hatch of her ship. 

If she happened to pass by the Kom’rk fighter on her way to the path, well that was just happenstance. Craning her head to see the top of the wings pointing towards the sky, she was distracted just enough for a life sign to register a moment too late. She spun around and reached for the blaster attached to her leg, but froze at the sight in front of her.

Standing with a blaster drawn and pointed steadily at her head was a Mandalorian in a full set of unpainted beskar armor. On his back was a jetpack and a long beskar spear. Great! Just great! He was definitely some kind of high ranking official to be carrying one of those around. 

She raised her hands slowly in the air, she could talk her way out of this.

“State your purpose here.” The Mandalorian said in a surprisingly quiet yet strong voice. 

Leia opened her mouth to respond, but another voice beat her to it.

“Din!” Luke shouted as he ran across the clearing. “Don’t you dare shoot my sister!”

The Mandalorian tilted his head, an expression Leia seemed to be getting a lot these days, and holstered his blaster in one smooth motion. Leia grinned at him as Luke stopped next to them, breathing heavily.

“So I take it you’re Din? Luke’s told me a lot about you.”

The helmet turned to look at Luke and her brother smiled. “What? You’re infuriating. I needed to tell someone about you since Grogu gets mad if he hears me complaining.”

The Mandalorian made a small humming noise and turned to look at Leia again. “I take it you’re Leia? Luke’s told me a lot about you.”

A laugh burst out of Leia’s mouth. “I like you!” She said, and looked at Luke. “I like him.”

Her brother scowled and waved a hand at Din. “Go away. Let me talk to my sister in peace. Go lurk around or whatever it is you do here.” 

The Mandalorian acquiesced after a momentary stare down with Luke and wandered surprisingly gracefully towards the path to the village, disappearing into the woods. 

Luke and Leia looked at one another for a moment before lunging forward and enveloping each other in a hug. Separating, Leia gave Luke a teasing glare. “You didn’t tell me that you had a Mandalorian hanging around.”

He snorted. “Well I don’t exactly want him around, but he shows up anyways. Besides, I think the kids  _ and  _ the parents would stage a coup if I banned him. Sometimes I wonder if they like him more than me.”

“Alright sunshine boy, I think you’re just jealous.”

“Am not!”

“I think you are!”

Luke pouted. “If you keep doing this I’m going to tell the village to stop setting up the welcome party I had planned.”

“Kriff, Luke. I didn’t need any of that.”

“I know, but you’re my sister and I wanted to do something special.”

See,  _ this  _ was why everyone liked Luke more than Han. Leia smiled at her brother and punched him in the arm. “Thanks little bro.”

“Little? I’m obviously older.”

“Whatever, let me see this village of yours.”

Taking her cue, Luke led her away from the clearing and towards the path through the woods. Bickering all the way, Leia soon found herself in a quaint little town. With a circular center, there were about six smaller houses surrounding the main area. She could see another path branching away towards where she knew the Jedi temple to be, and there was a larger building near that path with kids playing outside of it. 

Luke gestured at each of the smaller houses. “Those are where some of the families live. There are five padawans with parents who were able to move out here with them. Most of them have jobs that allow them to work from wherever, and the others take care of everything around here. That last house,” he said, pointing to the smallest of the family houses that looked like it could survive a bombing and remain intact, “is Din’s. He doesn’t live here permanently but manages to show up a surprising amount, so I made him build a place where he and Grogu can stay while he’s here.”

Leia nodded, already scheming about how she could extract info about Mandalore from the parent. 

Her brother carried on. “The big building is where the padawans whose parents can’t stay or aren’t around live. They each have their own room connected to a common space. The building also has a large kitchen where everyone comes to eat a few times a week.”

Jumping into the pause, Leia gently spoke. “It seems like you have a nice place here, Luke.” She could feel the love in the place, and the joy on the faces of the parents she could see mixed with the laughter of the kids made her immensely proud of her brother. 

“It is.” Luke said, a soft smile on his face. He turned and pointed towards one of the houses, leading Leia towards it. “This one’s mine. I’ve got an extra room set up for you.”

As she entered Luke’s house, she noticed the Mandalorian out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be almost patrolling the site? She shook her head and followed her brother into his house, she would figure out Din’s story later, her new priority for the moment would be about getting her brother to decorate his house like a normal person. 

After giving Luke a lecture about finding himself a shelf to put books on, not the floor, and putting her stuff away in the room she would be inhabiting, Leia looked up from the messages on her com when the sound of a bell rang across the clearing.

She could feel Luke send her a message over the force.  _ Dinner time, stop doing politics and get out here.  _

Fine. She’d come out to dinner, but that did not necessarily mean that she would stop doing politics. She had a Mandalorian to subtly interrogate anyways. 

Exiting Luke’s house, she was greeted with the sight of absolute chaos. Kids were running around everywhere, parents were chatting loudly to each other, Luke was levitating an intimidating amount of food towards the table, and the Mandalorian was lighting a stack of wood on fire with a wrist flamethrower. 

Great. 

Joining the group of parents and ignoring her brother’s pleas for help, she immediately began talking each of them up. Being invited to the table with the throng of people, the meal passed quickly. She learned the background of pretty much every person in the village over the course of it, and was greeted with the lovely sight of the Mandalorian pulling out an incredibly long straw to drink from the glass he had in front of him. A small green child sat on his lap who was eating food like he would never see it again, and Leia figured that the kid was Grogu. 

It confirmed two things for her. 1) The whole thing about Mandalorians taking in children like no one’s business, and 2) the fact that the whole don’t take your helmet off thing was still in effect. She wondered at that one. Lady Bo-Katan had taken hers off, but this one didn’t. It would be interesting to see what side the Mand’alor landed on for it. 

Soon enough, the sun had gone down over the village and the meal was done. Someone set up a small music player, and with the table’s removal, the kids and some of the parents began to dance. Seeing the kid toddle away into the mess and leaving his guardian tensely leaning against their house, Leia decided to make her move. 

Boy could she not wait to tell Han about this, he tended to get annoyed whenever Mandalorians were mentioned, and she was excited to rile him up a bit. 

The firelight flickered across the beskar armor, and Leia noted that the spear was leaned up against the building next to the warrior. 

“I don’t think we’ve gotten a chance to talk much. Can I call you Din?”

He shifted his helmet towards her just slightly as she stopped next to him, but she could feel his gaze on her. 

“Sure.” He said, and turned to look back towards the fire where Leia noticed Grogu was playing. This man sure was a protective father.

“So, Luke tells me that you're not here all of the time, what do you get up to when you’re not annoying him to death?” 

She could hear a small laugh through his voice modulator at the annoyance comment, and his attention was directed a little more towards her. “I’m usually on Mandalore when not here.” 

“Oh!” Leia said, perfect. Time to get some information. “I heard about the reclamation. Were you there at the battle?” 

“Yes.”

Man, this guy was going to be the death of her. “I take it you know the Mand’alor then?”

Din stiffened, and she noticed a hand reach subtly back towards the spear. “Something like that.”

Looks like she needed to do some emergency backtracking. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound rude. It’s just, I’m a Senator with the New Republic and you’re the first Mandalorian I’ve talked to without the ability to hang up on me.”

He tilted his head. “Who hung up on you?”

“Lady Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze.”

The Mandalorian chuckled. “That sounds about right.”

“You know her?”

“Yes.”

Leia nodded, alright she was going to risk another question. “Are she and the Mand’alor… you know. Together?”

Din physically  _ recoiled.  _ “No!”

“What about the Leader of Clan Vizsla? I know she mentioned he was also in charge while the Mand’alor is away.”

“Why are you asking about this?”

Aha! A possible misdirection? “Mostly curiosity. Sorry, the New Republic records don’t have much for me to work from.”

After a moment of silence, the Mandalorian sighed. “The uh… Mand’alor has no  _ riduur. _ ”

“Riduur?”

“Partner.” 

Ah, kriff. Well there goes at least one of her theories. “Well maybe that’s for the best. My partner’s annoying enough on a good day. Han always finds a way to push my buttons.”

“Han?”

“Han Solo.”

Din nodded slowly. “He’s got a lot of bounties out on him.”

Leia turned to appraise the warrior next to her with a new eye. “I thought you said that you spent your time on Mandalore now. Are you a bounty hunter?”

“Used to be. Your partner’s got quite the reputation.”

She snorted. “That he does.” There was an opening here. “That looks rather ceremonial.” She said, gesturing to his spear. “Did you trade bounty hunting for becoming a guard or something?”

He paused. “Something like that.”

She sighed internally, that seemed to be his favorite response. “How do you manage to get so much time off to spend here?”

Nudging the force slightly, she could feel conflict in him. Hopefully that conflict would resolve towards giving her more kriffing answers.

“Family is important.”

“That it is.” It was time to throw some low balls. “How’d you and Grogu meet?”

An hour later, she dearly regretted asking the question. Turns out that the near silent warrior just  _ did not  _ stop talking once he was given an opportunity to brag about his son. 

“- and that’s how we became Clan Mudhorn.” He said, tapping the signet on his right pauldron. Aha! There was something she could ask about.

“Clan Mudhorn? I thought Mandalorian Clans were bloodline based?”

He shook his head. “Some older clans such as Kryze, Vizsla, or Wren are more stingy about that, but the  _ alor  _ has the power to make new clans, and foundlings can be invited into the clan of their  _ buire. _ ”

“And how many are in yours?”

“We are a clan of two, yet also many.”

Well that didn’t help Leia at all. 

Opening her mouth to ask another question, Leia soon found herself interrupted by Luke, carrying a very sleepy Grogu. “I think you’ve bugged Din enough for one night.”

Din immediately turned all of his attention to the kid as he scooped the child out of Luke’s arms and into his own. Leia’s heart melted as she watched the little one dig a hand into the fabric of Din’s cape. 

Despite that lovely sight, Leia frowned at her brother. “I haven’t been bugging him, I’m simply asking questions.”

“Sure Leia.”

Before the bickering could devolve, Din interrupted. “The Senator was no trouble. I must take my leave.” With that, he nodded and walked away. 

“See Luke? I was no trouble.”

“Whatever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!! Comments and kudos keep me writing! :D
> 
> Mando'a:  
> riduur - partner  
> alor - leader (used for armorer here)  
> buire - parents


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the 3rd chapter! Mando'a translations are at the bottom.

It had been two weeks, and she had yet to receive a call back from Lady Bo-Katan. She had also never found the opportunity to talk to Din again. 

When she had woken up the morning after the party, she found out that the Mandalorian had received a message from Mandalore that he needed to come back ASAP. He had left early that morning with a mournful goodbye to Grogu and the usual threat towards Luke. 

Leia was mad about it. Did Mandalorians exist simply to ruin her plans? She was going to finally bring up the alliance stuff to him in the hope that he was in a position to mention it to the Mand’alor, but he had to go and mess with her plans that he had no knowledge of.

That’s fine! Whatever! 

She stared at the comlink listed in front of her and crossed her arms. She had three options available to her. 1) Wait for Bo-Katan to call her back, 2) call the Sundari palace again, or 3) have Luke tell Din that something was wrong with Grogu and then jump him when he showed up. 

Luke would be annoyed at that last one and give her a lecture about not misusing people’s children, but the kids of the other Senators didn’t call her Aunt Leia for nothing! 

Option three was out. 

The second one rubbed at her ego, but she had the sinking feeling that she would never hear back from Sundari unless she did it herself, and she wasn’t about to make her staffers deal with that again.

She hit the comlink.

It only took thirty minutes of listening to the worst hold music ever until it was picked up and Leia was greeted with the face of Lady Bo-Katan again. Great.

“Senator Organa.” Bo-Katan said with a smirk on her face. “What might I do for you this time?”

“Lady Bo-Katan, I seem to recall that you informed me the Mand’alor would be in contact with me when he became available. It’s been two weeks, surely he must have dealt with the matter of the Resol’nare by now?”

“Are you questioning the maintenance of the creed of the Mand’alor?”

Leia raised her hands slightly. “Not at all. I am simply trying to deal with some urgent and important business. Is the Mand’alor available to speak to?”

“No, he’s off planet dealing with Mandalorian business.”

She was so tired. Maybe it was time for a vacation. Make someone else deal with this. It wasn’t like they _needed_ Mandalore to join the New Republic, it would just be… helpful. 

“Are you able to tell me when he’ll be back?”

“No. _Ret’urcye mhi,_ Senator.”

She hung up. 

Leia stared at the blank holo for at least five minutes. Had she just been hung up on again? This was getting ridiculous. 

Reaching for the buzzer to call one of her aides into the room, she paused when her com started beeping. It must be Mandalore calling again. Maybe she had just been hung up on by accident.

She answered it. “Lady Bo-Katan I hope-”

“Hey Princess.” The voice of her husband interrupted. “I don’t know who this Lady Bo-Katan is but judging by your tone I don’t think I want to meet her.”

“Han.” Leia rubbed her forehead. “Sorry, you caught me at the wrong time.”

“I’m about to make it worse.”

Kriff of course he was. “If you’re calling to say that you got arrested again, I refuse to bail you out this time.”

She could hear Chewie laughing in the background. “That was a one time thing. No, I’m calling about our favorite tin can.”

Boba Fett. Of course he was. A rumor had trickled to Han that the bounty hunter was still alive a few months ago and he hadn’t taken it well. Look, Leia was mad enough at the man for capturing Han, but that time in the Sarlacc Pit did seem to be a reasonable trade off. Han didn’t think so, and he took every opportunity to complain about him. She was sick and tired of it.

“Look Han, I’m sure whatever he’s done now is horrible and bad, but please leave it alone I have treaties to work on.”

“Really? Cause the way you answered the phone sure does make me think that your treaties are going well.”

He knew her too well. “Han-”

“He took over Tatooine.”

Well that was unexpected. “What?!” 

“Boba Fett took over Tatooine and the Hutt Cartel.”

Every single expletive she had ever learned went through her head. You know what she needed? A long bath with a big glass of spotchka. That’s what she needed right now. Not this bantha crap.

“Do you have any other info?”

“Nope, and I got that info at a high cost. The Falcon’s gonna need some repairs.”

Of course it did. “Look Han, I’m gonna have to go take care of this, alright? Don’t do anything stupid.” 

“When have I ever?”

She hung up. 

Pressing the buzzer for one of her staffers to come in, she waited for a moment before one of them entered.

“Prep my ship,” she said, standing up from her desk. “I’m heading to Tatooine.”

* * *

She didn’t know how Luke managed to grow up here. It was hot, it was dusty, and her eyes were being assaulted by the disgusting mass that Jabba’s palace was. She didn’t understand how that architectural nightmare even got built, and she wished she had blown it up when she had the chance. Such an action was impossible now, what with the whole Boba Fett taking Tatooine over thing.

Her ship was given immediate coordinates to a landing port in the palace, and she begrudgingly touched down. Looking around, she was surprised at the amount of ships in the port, including but not limited to a familiar Kom’rk class fighter. 

She narrowed her eyes. There was a good chance that it was a coincidence, surely there were many Mandalorians with ships like that? But then again, a certain someone did say he used to be a bounty hunter. Shaking her head, she resolved herself to keep an eye out for a particularly shiny Mandalorian. 

Lowering the ramp on her ship and stepping into the hot air, Leia was greeted with the sight of a known fugitive grinning at her.

“Fennec Shand.” Leia said. “I heard you were dead.”

“Senator Leia Organa. I hear your husband’s been complaining about my boss.”

Interesting, that meant Fennec Shand was working for Boba Fett in more than a contract employment way. Something to note. “It’s your boss I would like to talk to, but it’s New Republic business, not that of my husband’s.”

“We figured. Otherwise we’d have to shoot down a piece of junk spacecraft. Follow me.”

Leia thought it would be best not to nudge that statement too much, Han always got sensitive when someone insulted the Falcon. 

Trailing after the assassin, she was brought into the fortress and led through the dark hallways. Much to Leia’s chagrin, Shand didn’t seem to be intimidated whatsoever by her presence. She didn’t even look back once! Fine. That was fine.

She found herself looking around at the surroundings she was passing by, and she had to note that she begrudgingly agreed with the design changes that they had done with the place. There were less horrifying rights violations and more empty silences for intimidation. 

That silence was broken as she came into the main chambers. Kriff, she hated this room. At least the person sitting in the throne was different (not that she liked this one any better). Shand peeled off as she walked down the steps, and Leia strode into the packed room of horrible people all waiting for a favor from the most horrible of them all. Eyes watched her every step as she neared the throne, and she could hear the music cut off as Fett stood up to greet her.

“The Huttslayer!” He called, his voice echoing around the room. “I was waiting for you to come.” He waved a hand towards Shand, and she yelled for everyone to clear out as she poured herself a drink from the bar. 

The masses filtered out of the throne room and Leia found herself alone with the man who captured her husband and the woman wanted by seemingly every organization in the galaxy. 

Fett took off his helmet and stepped down from his throne to stand in front of her. 

“Let’s negotiate, Senator.”

And that’s what they did. It took hours, but they came to an agreement. There was give and take on both sides, but it came down to a ‘you don’t bug us and we don’t bug you’ type of deal. 

The suns had gone down, and Leia found herself offered a glass of spotcha at the table they had sat down at. She took it. Fett raised his own glass to his mouth and gave her an almost taunting gaze as he caught her looking at the scars on his face.

“Courtesy of your husband. Sarlaccs aren’t known for being kind.”

She tipped her glass towards him. “Sarlaccs also aren’t known for being escaped from.”

“Courtesy of the Tusken Raiders.”

Well that was an interesting thing to note. She took a drink of the spotcha. Kriff that stuff was good. Her eyes flickered over the Mandalorian helmet sitting on the table. Was she really going to drag that stuff into this? Was she?

She was.

“So.” Leia said. “I can’t help but wonder if you’ve struck a similar deal with the Mand’alor.” 

Fett paused momentarily before taking another sip, and Leia could see Shand give her a look from where the assassin was lurking in the back. 

“And what business do you have with the Mand’alor?”

Looks like she had nothing to lose. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of him for quite some time now. He’s proven evasive. Someone named Lady Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze has been blocking off my communications. With you being a Mandalorian yourself, I wonder if you’ve had similar problems.”

The bounty hunter turned cartel leader gave her a searching look before laughing quietly into his drink. “It seems like Kryze feels the same about the both of us.” He put his drink on the table. “My status as a Mandalorian is questioned by some, but it hasn’t limited my contact with the Mand’alor.”

“And why is that?”

He grinned at her. “You could say we’re friends.”

Well great! Just what she needed! The Mand’alor being friends with the leader of the Hutt Cartel. At least she got a confirmation that it wasn’t just her being ignored by Lady Bo-Katan. 

Leia took a sip of the spotcha. “Off the record, could you say anything else about him?”

“For a price.”

Of course there would be a price. “And that would be?”

Fett leaned forward, but Leia didn’t move an inch. Her glare was enough to ward off his intimidation tactic. “I want you to tell Solo I say hello.”

“That’s it?”

He sat back in his chair and drained his glass dry. “That’s it. Do we have a deal?”

“I can do that. Now, tell me what you can.”

Fett turned to look at Shand with an amused glance, and Leia prickled at the snort the assassin let out. Whatever, if the price was annoying Han for info on her most elusive political target, she would pay it.

“First off I would like to let you know that the Mand’alor is a very honorable man and I will hurt you if you take advantage of him.”

Well that was unexpected, but interesting to note. “It is not my intention to take advantage of him.”

He hummed under his breath. “Good. What do you want to know?”

“Why is he named Mand’alor the Reluctant?”

Fett let out a booming laugh. “It started out as a joke and caught on too quickly to stop it. You see, he didn’t intend to become Mand’alor. It happened by accident, and he tried to get rid of the saber for quite some time before being corralled into leading.”

“Why couldn’t he get rid of it?”

“He couldn’t stop winning.” Fett grinned at her. “Everyone knew that he would throw the fight if challenged formally, and the darksaber has to be won in fair combat. All of his challengers would try and take him by surprise. He’s too good of a warrior to lose such an attack, no matter how much he wanted to lose the saber.”

Leia nodded. Alright, don’t try and fight him then. “How does he feel about the empire?”

Fett’s smile fell. “It would be best if you don’t lead your introductions with that. The empire and him have much unfinished business.”

“Such as?”

“Let’s just say that family was involved, and family is very important to Mandalorians.”

Alright well there was something to work with. She would definitely be leading her introduction with the empire, anything to get him to sign up with them. Time to ask the big one.

“How do I get in contact with him?”

“Well you see,” he pointed at her, the grin appearing on his face again. “That’s an interesting question for you to ask right now. In fact-”

He was cut off by a commotion near the stairs. 

Leia, Fett, and Shand all stood up with blasters drawn until the cause of the noise revealed itself. 

Five Mandalorians, all carrying at least one child with a few others trailing behind them. Fett and Shand put down their weapons, and Leia followed soon after. What was happening here?

“Shand.” Fett said. “Take them to the medbay.”

The assassin nodded and led the large group out of the main chamber, leaving one of the Mandalorians (carrying a child whose head was tucked into his shoulder) to walk up to Fett and Leia. 

It happened to be a very familiar Mandalorian. 

“Fett, we got them all. I’ll check to see if any have families and we’ll take the rest to Mandalore, thanks for the tip.” He turned to nod at Leia. “Senator Organa.”

She crossed her arms. “Din. Fancy seeing you here.”

A laugh burst out of Fett’s mouth. “You two know each other?”

Din shifted the child in his arms, their hands clenching firmly onto his cape. “We’ve met before at Luke’s school.”

Alarm bells rang in Leia’s head and she turned to glare at Fett. “You know about the school?”

“Of course I know about the school, Senator. I like to get updates about my nephew.”

Okay, so Fett was close with the Mand’alor _and_ Din. That meant that Din was likely closer to the Mand’alor than she thought. That meant she needed to talk to Din before he evaded her again. Also: make sure to let Luke know that Boba Fett was Grogu’s uncle.

“I would like to have a moment before you go.” She said to Din.

He turned to look at her. “Of course.”

“Why don’t you both speak tomorrow?” Fett interrupted, a smile plastered onto his face. “We have plenty of rooms, and you need to get this _ad’ika_ to the medbay.”

“ _Vor entye._ ” Din said to the bounty hunter before nodding towards Leia and wandering off in the direction the other Mandalorians had gone.

With Din gone, Fett looked at Leia. “So you can’t get ahold of the Mand’alor?”

Where was he going with this? She already told him that. “No.”

“And you know Din?”

“Yes.”

Fett shook his head. “Let me show you to your room.” Under his breath, just barely audible to her came one last sentence.

“I can’t wait to tell Fennec about this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos keep me writing! :D
> 
> Mando'a Translation:  
> Ret'urcye mhi - goodbye  
> ad'ika - child (but the 'ika makes it more endearing)  
> vor entye - thank you


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy everyone here goes! Chapter 4!
> 
> More notes + Mando'a translation at the end

Leia had to admit that the lodging in the palace wasn’t all that bad. The way it was built kept it relatively cool, and the bed was perfectly situated so that she’d have a free shot at anyone who tried to sneak in while she was sleeping.

She didn’t carry a blaster around for nothing. 

As she fixed up the braids she would be wearing that day, she thought through what Fett had told her the night before as he showed her where she would be staying. She had asked what the Mandalorians were doing there, and he had actually answered her frankly.

Apparently there had been a child trafficking ring that he was targeting, and knew that he needed backup. He called in a favor, and the Mand’alor had agreed to send help.

It only went to solidify the thought in Leia’s mind that Din was a much more powerful actor in Mandalore’s politics than he seemed, especially if he was the one sent to take care of a favor for the Mand’alor. 

Fett told her that the Mandalorians would make sure that any of the kids with families were reunited. When she asked what would happen to the ones without families, he simply looked at her and said “foundlings are the future.”

Something to ask Din about then. 

As she put the final touch into her braid, a knock sounded at her door. Polite yet firm. Holding her hand close to her blaster, she inched forward and opened it.

Greeted with the sight of a gigantic Mandalorian with blue armor, Leia opened the door a little further.

“Senator Organa.” His deep voice rumbled, and he shifted a frankly massive gun on his back. “Din sent me to find you. Said that he promised you a chat before we left.”

“Ah.” She straightened up and stepped out of the room. “Lead the way then.”

He gestured down the hallway and they began to walk, Leia having no trouble keeping up with his longer strides (she was a general after all). After the Mandalorian rumbled something about heading to the port to meet with Din by the ships, Leia decided to ask some questions while she had the chance.

“Forgive me if I’m not supposed to ask, but what’s your name?”

“Paz Vizsla.”

Vizsla! Now that was a name she knew. “Any relation to the one Lady Bo-Katan referred to as the Leader of Clan Vizsla?”

The visor turned all the way to look at her, but she stood her ground. “The same. You’ve spoken to Kryze then?”

So this was one of the leaders on Mandalore, and he was sent by Din to get her? Interesting. No matter, this was an opening to address the alliance issue. “I have indeed. I’ve attempted many times to get ahold of the Mand’alor but have been consistently blocked by Lady Bo-Katan. I seek to broker an alliance between the New Republic and Mandalore. Since you are one of the leaders I have been made aware of, would we be able to speak of the matter?”

He was silent for a moment before turning his face away from hers. “My area of knowledge lies in that of battle, and I will not take responsibility for such a pact. Speak to the Mand’alor on it.”

“I’ve been trying to. Would you be able to get me in contact with him?”

The Mandalorian faltered in his steps, and Leia frowned. Was it that aggressive of a question? After a moment, she could hear him give out a quiet laugh that made it through his vocoder. 

He turned to look at her, and somehow she knew he was smiling. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Well great! At least she had that, regardless of how weird he was acting about it. “Thank you. I’d appreciate it.”

Vizsla nodded, and the conversation stopped there. Leia knew that they had at least a few more hallways to go until they hit the port (the palace was surprisingly big), so she figured that she could risk another question.

Her eyes drifted to the armor he was wearing. “I’m sorry if this comes off as ignorant, I do truly apologize, but the New Republic records on your people are quite wanting. I know that the colors you paint on your armor are quite significant, would you mind if I inquired into yours?”

“Seems like you already did.”

She opened her mouth to apologize, but he lifted up his vambrace and tapped it with his other hand. 

“Blue for reliability, orange for lust for life, red for honoring a parent, and black for justice.”

Leia nodded, noting the colors he listed. It would help a lot in judging character. 

“And silver?” She asked.

Paz paused for a moment before speaking. “Mourning.” 

Good to know.

Seemingly right on time, they found themselves entering the port. Leia could see her ship being fueled up in the far corner, but the largest source of commotion was coming from the Kom’rk class fighter she’d been seeing around quite a lot.

Two of the Mandalorians she had seen the other day were loading boxes of… something into the ship, four kids were sitting outside of it talking to another Mandalorian who was crouched down next to them, and Din was walking down the ramp of the ship towards where Paz and Leia were approaching. Fett and Shand were nowhere to be seen.

As they neared each other, Paz and Din both reached forward and aggressively clasped each other's arms. Leia winced, the clash of the vambraces together did  _ not  _ make a pleasant noise.

“ _ Ni mirdi verd nakar’mi gar cuyi haar Mand’alor _ .” Paz said.

Din inclined his head towards the other Mandalorian. “ _ Ni kar’tayli, verd ven jorhaa’i mavshy’a as burc’ya.”  _

They released each other’s arms and Paz laughed. “ _ Oya, ori’vod _ .”

With that, the larger Mandalorian punched Din in the shoulder and walked away. 

Leia found three takeaways from what she just witnessed. 1) She would have to learn another language if all this Mandalorian stuff kept getting regulated to her, 2) the Mand’alor got mentioned in there somewhere, and 3) that Beskar armor must really hold up if Din was still standing after being “playfully” punched like that.

Din turned to her and inclined his head slightly. “Senator. Would you like to speak on the ship? We don’t have much space but the cockpit will be clear.”

“That would be perfectly adequate, lead the way.”

And so he did. Passing by the children, she made a mental note to ask about their status. Passing by the boxes which definitely appeared to be housing some form of aggressive and definitely illegal weaponry, she decided not to ask about those. 

Din was right, there really wasn’t that much room on the ship (it was designed to be fast and aggressive, not luxurious), but the cockpit he led her to had enough room for the two of them to sit and speak. 

“What would you like to talk about, Senator?” Din asked, reminding Leia of how soft spoken the warrior was.

“Oh, please do call me Leia. I would hate to put you at such a disadvantage with me only knowing your first name.”

“Very well. What would you like to talk about, Leia?”

“I hope to speak frankly, if that is alright with you?”

He nodded, and she took that as her cue to begin. 

“I know that you cannot speak for your entire people, but I have a feeling that you carry some influence on Mandalore, and I was hoping that you might be able to communicate some of the New Republic’s wishes to your leader.”

Din shifted in his seat slightly. “I might be able to do that. What is it the New Republic wishes?”

Aha! A confirmation that this might work. Here goes. “We wish to form an alliance with Mandalore. It would be a mutually beneficial partnership. I know how hard it is to rebuild a civilization, and I know that Mandalore is low on supplies due to the Empire’s attacks on your land. We can help with that. If Mandalore joins with the New Republic, we would be able to send relief packages and assistance to the planet.”

“What would the cost be?”

Leia gave him a small smile that she hoped came off as kind. “Your people are great warriors, and there is still a threat looming in our galaxy. Empire remnants are still around, and not all of the civilizations signed on with the New Republic are warriors. Our hope for an alliance would be to exchange supplies and partnerships for your people’s help in wiping the Empire out utterly and completely.”

He tilted his head as he looked at her. “So, what you’re saying is that the New Republic would give us assistance for doing something that we’re already doing?”

She blinked. “Essentially, yes.”

“What other stipulations would be involved?”

“That’s the overview, honest. Everything else would be specifics that can be negotiated. I’m afraid I don’t have the exact wording at the moment.” 

Leia could hear a small hum come from the Mandalorian, and she wondered what he was thinking of the proposition. As she did so, he leaned forward slightly.

“What do you have against the Empire?”

She let her eyes go hard. “They took almost everything from me. My parents, my home planet.” She shook her head. “I’m lucky to have made it out with what I have, and I’m proud to have done my part with the rebel alliance.”

His voice went incredibly soft. “What planet?”

“Alderaan.” Her voice hitched slightly. “Alderaan.”

“I have a friend from there. I’m truly sorry.”

Leia’s eyebrows shot up. “Who’s your friend?”

“Cara Dune, she’s a Marshal out in Nevarro.”

Hand clutching the seat for dear life, she gasped, not believing what she had just heard. “Carasynthia Dune? She’s alive?”

“Last I checked. Though I can’t say I knew her full first name before.”

She floundered for something to say. “I thought she was dead… I.” 

“I can let her know about you if you’d like.”

“Yes!” Leia nodded. “Yes. You said Nevarro? Kriff that’ll eat up my travel time.” She paused. “Sorry for swearing, I know this is a diplomatic discussion.”

Din laughed, a sound she suspected didn’t come out of his mouth very often. “Grogu’s heard worse. Besides, if you’re going to be dealing with Mandalorians, you’ll hear more extreme ones. Don’t bother heading out to Nevarro, I bet I can get her to come to you.”

“How?” Leia smiled. “She’s not known for following orders.”

“I have my ways.”

She shook her head. “It’s your funeral. Tell her that I’m glad she’s alive.”

“I will.”

A shout in Mando’a echoed into the cockpit, and Din stood up from his seat, gesturing towards the door. “I’m afraid that we must be off soon, may I escort you to your ship? Fett wanted me to tell you that he wanted his message told to Solo soon so you better be off.”

“I doubt he said it like that.”

“I may be paraphrasing.”

With that, they left the ship. All of the boxes had been loaded inside, and the other Mandalorians were gently buckling the kids into their seats.

Leia frowned. “What are you doing with the kids?”

Every step the Mandalorian took was emphasised by a subtle click of his armor, and Leia waited for him to respond. “We’re bringing them to Mandalore.”

Well that was interesting. “And what’s going to happen to them?” She said, ice in her tone.

Din slowly turned his helmet to look at her. “Foundlings are the future.”

“And are you to decide that future? I’ve been under the assumption that you were a man of honor, yet you won’t tell me what will happen to those children.”

He came to a full stop, deadly silence radiating off of him. Leia turned to face him, arms crossed and willing to risk all the progress they had made. 

“They have no families to go back to, Senator Organa. We can give them one.”

“By forcing them to take up your creed? We have orphanages with the New Republic that are perfectly capable of taking care of them.”

She could see one of the Mandalorian’s hands clench, but he showed no other outward sign of aggression. This man was well controlled.

“All of them have chosen to come with us, and they will be given a choice many more times.”

“And what have they chosen to do? Have you told them?” This was risky, but she wasn’t about to leave it alone. 

“They have all been told what is to come. They will be trained, and they will become  _ Mando’ade _ . They may back out at any time.” 

“And how do you know that it’s really what they want?”

“With the things they have experienced, Senator, they understand the importance of strength. Do not put us in the same category as the slavers who stole them.” 

She raised her hands slightly in the air. “The thought had not crossed my mind to do so, but I hope you can understand my hesitation. I cannot stand by and watch if something wrong is happening.”

“There is nothing wrong here. They have nothing Senator, we’re giving them a chance for a better future.”

“And how can you say that it will be better?”

A wave of frustration and sadness washed towards her through the force, and Leia’s eyes widened as he snapped out his next statement.

“Because I was a foundling, Senator Organa. If you cannot trust the reputation of my people, then trust my words. These  _ ade  _ will be taken care of. Foundlings are the future.”

Alright then. She nodded. “Very well. I apologize if I came off as insensitive.”

They resumed their steps towards her ship. “You showed you care about  _ ade,  _ that is a worthy trait.”

They were silent the rest of the way. As they stopped at the foot of the open hatch of the ship, a droid scuttled away after closing up the fuel hatch. Din stopped at the bottom as Leia took a step up the ramp. 

She turned towards the Mandalorian and smiled. “Thank you for speaking to me. I hope the business between Mandalore and the New Republic may advance.”

Din nodded towards her. 

She continued. “And thank you, Din, for taking my accusations with grace. I’m afraid to admit to quite a lot of ignorance when it comes to your culture.”

“Your acknowledgement is appreciated, Leia.”

Smiling at the verbal and force-feeling confirmation, Leia turned to walk up the ramp.

Just as she reached the top, Din’s voice called out.

“Oh, Leia. I would recommend taking a look at those New Republic orphanages you mentioned. We’ve Found many  _ ade  _ who went through that system.”

She froze and watched as he walked away towards his ship, cape flaring out behind him.

Well, kriff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that? Some angst crept in? Who would have expected that? I sure didn't, but here we are.
> 
> I would like to thank my semesters of translating Latin for giving me the ability/persistence needed to piece those Mando'a sentences together. I tried my best, and I will fight anyone who @s me (kidding I love y'all, lemme know if something's very wrong with it).
> 
> All of your comments have been amazing and I'm so thankful to everyone who's taken the time to yell at me <3
> 
> One last chapter after this, stay tuned for a drop this weekend.
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing :)
> 
> Mando'a:  
> Ni mirdi verd nakar’mi gar cuyi haar Mand’alor - I think the warrior does not know you are the Mand’alor  
> Ni kar’tayli, verd ven jorhaa’i mavshy’a as burc’ya - I know, she will speak more freely as a friend  
> Oya, ori’vod - Emphatic expression + friend (but special)  
> Mando'ade - Mandalorians  
> Ade - children


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome one and all to the last chapter! 
> 
> More notes + Mando'a translation at the end.
> 
> (I hid some references to Rebels in here, happy hunting)

A week and thirty five arrests later, Leia finally found a chance to take a bath and drink an entire bottle of spotchka that she may or may not have smuggled out of Fett’s palace.

What? You learn a few things hanging around Han.

She slipped into the bath, smiling at the copious amounts of bubbles in it, and leaned her head back against the smooth curved stone. 

Her throat was raw from all of the screaming she had done over the past week, but it was absolutely worth it. After getting the tip from Din, she had taken a look into the orphanage system and discovered a layer of corruption which she took great care to stamp out as aggressively and as fast as she could.

Part of her felt bad. She had been so combative against the Mandalorians and their claiming of kids as Foundlings, yet there were horrors happening under her very own watch. She owed Din another apology. 

Another part of her was relieved. If she hadn’t acted impulsively like she had, Din might not have told her about the problem. There was a good chance the Mandalorians would have taken it into their own hands, and where would a treaty be then?

She sighed. The treaty. Well there was something she hadn’t thought about through the week of turmoil and finger pointing. She hoped that Din would mention it to the Mand’alor. She was positive that he held some position of high esteem on the planet, all that was to be seen was if he would use it. 

Trailing a foot through the water, she reached for the glass of spotchka she had poured before climbing into the bath. Just as she lifted it to her mouth, there was a knock at the door. 

She jumped, spilling some of the drink into the water with a curse.

“What?!” She yelled, staring mournfully at the now less full glass. 

“Excuse me Mistress Leia.” Came the voice of C-3PO through the door. “There is a woman here who says she had to talk to you immediately.”

“Tell her I’ll be down in a minute, Threepio.” 

“Of course! I will let her know. Oh dear, oh dear.”

The sounds of his steps faded away and Leia stared up at the ceiling. Maybe the universe just didn’t want her to relax. Maybe this was her fate. 

She set the glass down, it probably wouldn’t do to be tipsy when greeting whoever decided to show up in time to disturb her one moment of relaxation. 

It only took her a few minutes to get dry and put her hair up, and soon enough she was making her way down to the reception room where Threepio had probably corralled her guest. Approaching the door, she paused for a moment to straighten her dress before walking in.

She froze. 

Standing with her arms crossed and staring at Threepio with some derision was a ghost from her past. 

Carasynthia Dune.

Unbeknownst to her, the name slipped out of her mouth and she soon found herself staring at an old friend grinning at her with a glimmer in her eyes. 

“My lady.” Cara said, with a small bow and a smirk on her face. “It’s good to see you.”

“Good to see me? I thought you were dead!” She gestured for Threepio to leave the room as she stalked forward towards the shock trooper.

Cara tensed, no doubt expecting to be attacked, but Leia dragged her into a hug instead. She melted into it, their faces touching where the tear tattoo rested on the soldier’s visage. 

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, dropping her guard in a way that Leia had rarely seen before. “I didn’t want to face you knowing that I had deserted you.”

Leia inched out of the hug and frowned at her old friend. “Always dramatic you were. I forgive you, Cara. Besides, I hear you’re a Marshal for the New Republic out in Nevarro now. That doesn’t sound like desertion to me.”

“I guess.”

“How’d you end up in that skug hole anyways?”

She grinned at her. “You could say that a mutual friend of ours got me there. Speaking of, Djarin sent me to get you. Said that there was a treaty to sign. I’ve got a ship that’ll get you through Mandalore’s no fly zone.”

Leia froze. This was really going to happen  _ now?  _ Also, who the hell was Djarin? 

“Who’s Djarin?”

Cara raised an eyebrow. “Din. Din Djarin. He said that you knew him?”

Oh! So that was his last name. “Well that makes more sense. I only knew his first name. When does he want me there?”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me at all.” Cara snorted. “He’s a tough shell to crack. Took me a few months before I even knew his name, but that was because Gideon shouted it at us. Didn’t start using it until much later.” She shook her head. “Anyways, he wants you on the planet as soon as possible. Said something about making up for the wait.”

Leia nodded. “Okay. Okay. Let me go pack a bag and make some calls. I’ll meet you by your ship in less than an hour.”

With that, Cara let her know where the ship was parked, and Leia rushed off to make arrangements. She packed her most durable yet stylish clothing, knowing that Mandalorians valued practicality over everything, and she made sure to bring a few more weapons than she normally would have. It couldn’t hurt.

Calling various Senators rather frantically, she got the full draft of the treaty ready to go, as well as permission to hand off the orphanage stuff to someone she trusted to finish the job. Leaving Threepio behind due to Cara’s warning to not bring droids anywhere near Din’s vicinity for some unexplained reason, she rushed down to the port where her friend was waiting.

Cara’s ship was definitely one that would skirt below radar. It was a pre-empire piece of junk, and she wondered how the shock trooper had gotten ahold of it. Well, it was a question she could ask on the ride over. No doubt the hyperspace jump would be a few hours.

She was waved up the ramp and set her bags down where Cara gestured they could go. After getting that settled, she was led towards a ladder that went to the cockpit, and they both climbed up.

“Ready to go?” Cara asked, flipping the switches to get the ship ready to fly with a quirk of her brow.

“All ready.”

With that, they were off. After getting out of range of Coruscant, Cara made the jump to hyperspace and leaned back in her chair with a sigh. 

“Alright.” She said, putting her legs up on the dash and turning to grin at Leia. “We’ve got a few hours till we drop out of hyperspace. I take it you’ve got other priorities than girl talk?”

“As much as I would love to get drunk and complain about life, I do have many questions pertaining more to the mission at hand. But if the offer stands, we can have some girl talk another time.”

“Fine by me.” The dropper drawled. “What’d you want to know?”

“How did you even get roped into picking me up?”

Cara’s mouth twisted into something resembling a pout. “Djarin bribed me.”

“He bribed you?! With what?”

“Visiting privileges.”

Leia frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well let’s just say that he hasn’t let me see the kid since the uh… incident.”

“What did you do.”

She raised her hands in the air. “I may or may not have taught the kid some choice swear words in Mando’a.”

It took a moment for that to sink in before Leia was laughing hysterically. 

“Yeah, I thought it was funny too.” Cara said, crossing her arms. “But then Din restricted my visiting privileges over the claim of ‘corrupting the youth.’ This is my chance to get them back and earn my revenge.”

“How’d you even know Mando’a in the first place?” Leia said, still gasping for air after laughing so hard.

“You get into enough fights with a Mandalorian and you start picking some of it up.”

With that, the conversation carried into a discussion of how Cara had met Din, and Leia nodded along. She had heard bits of the story (though focused on Grogu) from Din, but it was nice to hear another perspective. Cara stopped when she got to how Luke had taken Grogu on the Imperial Cruiser, and Leia couldn’t shake the feeling that she had stopped there to not reveal how her friend had dealt with that separation.

“Have you been on Mandalore before?” Leia asked, hoping to glean some info on what to expect. 

Cara snorted. “Yeah. Though I can’t say that they were too happy about it at first.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“There was an incident which led to Din carting me onto the planet for an injury. The only reason I was let in was cause of the whole friends in high places thing, ya know? Anyways, after a few days of people whispering about an  _ aruetii, _ outsider, I got annoyed and started fighting people. They liked me after that.”

Leia nodded. Alright, note to self, if being insulted, fight. She could do that.

Cara continued. “I’ve done some work for them when they needed someone not in the getup to take care of some things. Besides, this ship’s listed in the registry so they’ll let us through.” She patted the chair she was sitting in, and Leia tilted her head.

“How’d you get this ship?”

“Djarin, it used to be his. He bought it with the reward for bringing Gideon down cause it was roughly the same as his old ship that got destroyed. He put up quite a fight when they strong armed him into taking the Kom’rk which was seen as being more fit for his position. Said that he’d rather I use it than have it gather dust.” 

Oh! That was something she had been meaning to ask.

“What is Din’s position on Mandalore anyways?”

Cara stared at her for a moment before beginning to laugh.

“Oh kriff they did it to you too!” She gasped out, eyes closing with her bellowing laughter.

“What?” Leia said, leaning forward. “What did they do?” 

Cara wiped her eyes and choked out one more laugh. “Leia. Leia. Din’s the Mand’alor.”

Leia froze. No. NO. Her mouth dropped open. What had she done? Not only had she been referring to THE Mand’alor with his first name, but she had even yelled at him about his culture? Oh KRIFF. Say goodbye to any treaty. 

She buried her face in her hands. That was it, she was going to go become a hermit and never talk to anyone again. Maybe Luke could give her some tips. She was a disgrace. 

Now that she knew, the evidence piled up in front of her. The spear, the ship, the various acquaintances. It was so obvious wasn’t it? She was an idiot.

“Hey.” Cara said, interrupting her wallowing. “If it makes you feel better, you’re not the first person they’ve done this to. He keeps the darksaber hidden behind his cloak so you can’t exactly use it to ID him.”

Leia looked up a little bit from her shame pose and Cara took the opportunity to continue.

“Din did it to me too, and I’m pretty sure Luke got the same treatment. You have nothing to be ashamed about, he’s got a unique sense of humor. If anything, my incident with it is even more embarrassing than yours.”

“Yeah?” Leia said, smiling just slightly. “How can that be?”

Cara shifted in her seat. “Well. You at least can say that you didn't know anything, I knew the guy before he became the Mand’alor. Heck, I was there when he won the darksaber. Apparently the whole thing got explained in front of me but I was too busy grinning at Gideon to pay attention.”

Leia laughed. “Alright you’re making me feel a little better. What’d they do when they figured out you didn’t know?”

“Story for another time.” She waved a hand in the air. “I need to be more drunk for that.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that promise.” Leia said, before her smile dropped. “Cara, I may have messed the diplomacy up a lot. I think I definitely insulted him multiple times and I-”

She was cut off. “I promise that you did not mess up the diplomacy.”

“But-”

“No. Din’s a good guy. He understands. He wouldn’t have sent me to get you if he didn’t intend on going through with the treaty you put together. Besides, if he’s rude to you he knows I’ll beat him up.”

“I’m not sure you should go around beating up heads of state.”

Her friend shrugged and grinned at her. “It’s done with love, he’s used to it. You’ll see.”

An alarm blared from the panel and Cara dropped her feet back to the floor. Within a moment, the ship jumped out of hyperspace and they were greeted with the sight of Mandalore beneath them.

Leia sucked in a gasp. The planet truly looked dead. She would have claimed it was uninhabited were it not for the gleams of light scattered across it and the steady stream of attack vessels drifting between the planet and its moon, Concordia.

The dash trilled with an alert for a transmission, Cara leaned forward and flicked a switch. Words filtered into the cabin in Mando’a.

“ _ Su cuy’gar,  _ Razor Crest 2,  _ gar lise duumyc rusur. _ ” 

“ _ Vor entye.”  _ Cara drawled.

The com crackled. “ _ Gar Mando’a atinii cuyir shabla verd. _ ”

She leaned into the mic. “ _ Osik. _ ”

Whoever was on the other side laughed and cut off the transmission. Cara snorted and began the descent towards the planet.

“What did they say?” Leia asked. 

“The usual permission to land stuff, and then I’m pretty sure they insulted me. No idea really.”

She left it at that. Entering the atmosphere, Leia leaned forward as they neared the small speck in the distance.

It wasn’t a small speck after all, but a giant and seemingly impenetrable dome. She couldn’t see anyone but some ships outside of the structure, and she knew without a doubt that there were many life forms inside of it. She was about to see something that outsiders were rarely allowed a glimpse at. 

Hopefully the identity mishap wouldn’t hinder negotiations too much.

Cara flew them into a dock on the side of the giant dome, and Leia could see the glint of armor signalling a party waiting for them to disembark. 

It was time. Her friend waved for her to leave her bags on the ship, saying that someone would take care of them, and pressed the button to lower the ramp.

Before them were at least six Mandalorians. The split between who had their helmets off was about fifty-fifty. Standing in the middle was Din. No, she corrected herself. Mand’alor Djarin. 

To his right was Paz Vizsla and another Mandalorian with golden armor and a fur cloak. To his left was Bo-Katan (scowling at her as usual), a Mandalorian with slightly graying hair and yellow armor, and a Mandalorian with bright purple hair and the most chaotically painted armor Leia had ever seen. No doubt everyone here was quite important. 

As they descended the ramp, Leia opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Cara shouting behind him.

“DJARIN!” She yelled, and charged down towards the Mand’alor.

Din responded in kind, shouting “DUNE!” and crouching into a battle ready stance.

The two crashed into each other, and Leia stared as they fell to the ground and fought. None of the other Mandalorians took any initiative to stop their leader from wrestling with a New Republic Marshal, and Leia could see expressions ranging from resignation to amusement on the faces of the Mandalorians without helmets.

She could feel eyes on her and looked up to see the golden armored Mandalorian gazing at her, helmet tilted to the side. Judging by the hammer she was wielding, this must be the armorer. 

Leia inclined her head towards the woman, who nodded back at her. Unsure of what to do, Leia waited as the armorer looked back at the two who were still fighting, swear words filtering through the air. 

“Mand’alor.” The armorer said in a calm and commanding voice, both Cara and Din freezing on the ground. “I do believe you two can try to break your tie another time.”

With that, the two separated and got back to their feet. Leia quirked an eyebrow at Cara who shrugged back in response. Din got back to his position in the middle of the group and nodded at her.

“Senator Organa.” He said. “Welcome to Mandalore.”

Here goes nothing. She smiled back. “Mand’alor Djarin, thank you for having me.”

It was silent for a moment before groans echoed across the group.

Vizsla crossed his arms. “Cara how could you?”

“What?!” Cara shouted indignantly. “I wasn’t about to not tell her, what with how much fun you all had with me the last time.”

Paz shook his head, and Leia smiled at the chaos. Maybe there was hope after all.

“Well.” She said, grinning at Din. “Shall we broker a treaty?”

He stared at her for a moment before gesturing his hand towards the open archway into the dome. “Let’s. After you, Senator Organa.”

They began to walk, but Leia knew she had to ask one more favor before they got down to business.

“So I hear you did this to my brother as well.”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“Gladly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had as much fun with this as I did! Thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments, every single one of them put a smile on my face.
> 
> As you may have noticed, I made this a series. If there's enough interest, I might write some one shots for the incidents involving Cara and Luke (though I can't promise that they'll be posted as frequently as this fic). 
> 
> I look forward to seeing what you think, and you have my many thanks once again.
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing. :)
> 
> Mando'a translation:  
> Aruetii - outsider  
> Su cuy'gar, Razor Crest 2, gar lise duumyc rusur - Hello, Razor Crest 2, you are permitted to land  
> Vor entye - thank you  
> Gar Mando’a atinii cuyir shabla verd - Your Mando’a continues to be screwed up, warrior  
> Osik - dung


End file.
